


Bad Blood

by Lothiriel84



Series: These words are all we have (We'll be talking) [8]
Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Established Relationship, F/M, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Spoilers for Episode: Zurich
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:20:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26087107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lothiriel84/pseuds/Lothiriel84
Summary: All this bad blood here, won't you let it dry?It's been cold for years, won't you let it lie?
Relationships: Arthur Shappey & Gordon Shappey, Arthur Shappey/Tiffy, Douglas Richardson & Arthur Shappey
Series: These words are all we have (We'll be talking) [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1546090
Comments: 5
Kudos: 8





	Bad Blood

They’ve only just landed in Sydney, they have the whole of the week off, and after narrowly winning a rather intense round of OJS Air’s favourite airborne game, Tiffy has made him promise she won’t have to look at another lemon for the rest of their stay. (He pointed out, quite reasonably, that he can’t vouch for every single Australian they’re going to meet, but that he’ll stay off the citrus fruits until their next flight, when Douglas will undoubtedly push for a rematch.)

Speaking of Tiffy, she’s currently collecting her chosen prize of a photo op of the Bankstown Airport Air Traffic Control Tower – Douglas apparently called in a favour from a friend of a friend of his, and isn’t it brilliant how Douglas seems to have acquaintances pretty much at every airport they land at? Mum and Herc, on the other hand, are already on their way to the hotel, which gives Arthur plenty of time to mill about the duty free, perusing all the different varieties of Toblerone that they’ve got here. He’s only just uncovered a source of unmatched excitement in the form of _Toblerone Ice Cream_ when he bumps into the very last person he was looking forward to meeting today, or, indeed, ever again.

“Um, oh, I mean,” he blurts out nervously, wishing he was somewhere – anywhere – else. “Hi.”

“Arthur, my boy – wasn’t expecting to see you here,” Gordon says mildly, glancing around as if expecting the rest of OJS Air to be lurking down the liquor aisle. “I take it your mother’s here as well.”

“No, she isn’t,” he replies quickly, and as luck would have it, it’s not even a lie. “It’s just me, and Tiffy – and Douglas, I suppose, he must be somewhere around, not t-that’s any of your business, anyway,” he trails off, only too painfully aware he shouldn’t be babbling about any of this, not to Dad of all people.

“Who’s Tiffy? Don’t tell me Carolyn finally found a suitable replacement for that joke of a pilot she used to employ.”

Arthur’s nails are digging in his palms now, a last-ditch attempt to keep his composure even as it feels like he’s about two seconds away from losing it completely. It’s not fair, how Dad always manages to get to him, after all this time – and it doesn’t matter that he once managed to face up to him, somehow, back when Dad was trying to steal G-ERTI off them by lying about Gran’s first name of all things. He’s so agitated he barely registers a set of footsteps coming up towards him, the familiar squeeze on his arm as Tiffy takes her usual spot at his side.

“That’d be Carolyn’s husband, I’m afraid,” she explains sweetly, as if to a particularly obnoxious child. “I’m merely Arthur’s partner. Hello.”

Seemingly wrong-footed by this unusually direct approach, Gordon regards her for a long moment. “Partner,” he scoffs, eventually. “Well, blow me down.”

“Any reason why you seem to find it so surprising, Mr Shappey?” Tiffy barges on before Arthur can muster an appropriately indignant response. “Surely, as a parent, your son’s happiness must be _paramount_ to you.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Gordon dismisses her with a curt wave of his hand, a gesture Arthur’s well acquainted with from countless pre-divorce arguments in which Carolyn invariably got the upper hand. “I’m going to be late for my flight, so if you two will excuse me...”

The vice-like feeling clamping down on his chest is gone as soon as Dad turns his back on them and marches on towards the gates. He’s in Tiffy’s arms before his mind catches up on him, but she’s holding onto him as tightly as she can manage, so he lets himself have this, just for this once.

“That was,” he nuzzles into her hair, inhaling the familiar scent of her favourite shampoo. “Wow.”

“Not ‘brilliant’?” Tiffy teases him, her hand running soothingly up and down his back.

“I was going to say, the second most brilliant thing in the world, after Douglas figured out all the wiring on G-ERTI was actually made of gold, which meant we could keep her.”

“Sounds pretty great to me,” she concedes, and even with her face tucked neatly between his neck and shoulder, he can still hear the smile in her voice.

“Did you get a good view of the ATC tower?” he asks her at length, even as he prepares to extract himself from the comfort of her embrace. Any moment now.

“I did, thanks to Douglas. And you’re allowed to keep hugging me for as long as you need, you know. I will show you the pictures later. ”

 _I love you_ is right there on the tip of his tongue, but he manages to hold it in, just barely.

“Go ahead,” she prompts him, as if she somehow just read his mind. “You know I won’t say it back, but I don’t mind, just for this once.”

“You’re my favourite person, ever,” he settles for instead, her soft chuckle falling like music into his ear.

“You’re my favourite person too, you muppet,” she says in return, and that’s what makes it even better – the fact that she can say it back, and he knows she means it, too.

“As touching as this undoubtedly is, shall I wait for you two lovebirds, or are you paying for your own taxi?”

“Oh, hi there, Douglas,” he grins, unrepentant, and it’s taken him years to detect the underlying fondness to Douglas’ sarcasm, but he can definitely tell it’s there now. “We’ll be with you in just a tick.”

“Don’t forget to bring the Toblerone,” Douglas throws at him over his shoulder, as he leisurely strolls towards the exit.

That’s when he finally remembers, and he decides he’s not going to let Dad win, not this time. “Did you know they’ve got Toblerone Ice Cream here in Australia?” he tells Tiffy as he finally puts some space between them, her hand slipping easily into his own, as if it belongs there.


End file.
